


Smile a little brighter, laugh a little louder

by samodivax



Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-15
Updated: 2013-07-15
Packaged: 2017-12-20 07:52:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/884818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samodivax/pseuds/samodivax
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fenris has no fond memories of his childhood after Varania betrays him and when Marian Hawke learns of this she decides they should make some fun memories together, to make up for the lack of such on his past. By request of a livejournal promp.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Smile a little brighter, laugh a little louder

They'd had the conversation on their way back to Kirkwall. Hawke had stopped the entire group and sat down in a shady spot, courtesy of a few tall trees. She'd always been gentle around him, and showed no one but him her sensitive side.

He remembered the look in her eyes when he'd told her the truth, how he had no pleasant memories of his childhood left, no stories he wanted to share, no siblings he wanted to remember at all. It wasn't pity per say but pehaps a bit of sorrow?

Regardless of this she'd taken it upon herself in that very second to pick flowers. "These were Bethany's favorite flowers, you know." even after all these years, whenever her sister was brought up she sounded as if she was on the verge of tears "We used to make flower crowns together and give them to everyone. Carver used to pretend he hated it but wore his all day anyway." And she sat down with a bunch of picked flowers and started making a flowercrown as he told her the few fond memories that were still left - barely a handful, the rest either ruined or forgotten. How he'd stolen a loaf of bread once and the adventure he had while trying to escape with it, and the sweet taste of his success. How his mother would take him outside at night and show him the stars, how she'd kiss his forehead before bed and tuck him, telling him the most wonderful stories. But even those memories were now bitter because Varania had been present in most of them, while the rest made the hollow feeling in his chest worse. He liked to think that feeling was the lack of family, the lack of belonging somewhere at some point durring your life.

By the time he'd realized how far his thoughts had drifted away, she'd put something on his head - a flower crown. He furrowed his brow for a moment but the way her face softened when she saw the blue flowers, with their dark green leaves in his snow white hair, he decided to rethink taking it off. She giggled childeshly and leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder. She seemed happy, content with the way things were in this exact moment. So why shouldn't he be?

Merrill had noticed the flower crown on his head and starting making one for herself with Isabela. Merrill was practically an expert with making them but Isabela's expertese in knots without a doubt helped. They'd made one for each of the unusually large group and though Anders gave the petite elf a suspicious look he still kept the flowers on his head with the excuse "They look great with my coat." Varric's was far too big and ended up being a flower necklace instead, while Sebastian's was a flower hat, which made him look utterly ridiculious but given the possitive reaction Merrill had he left it on. Isabela made herself a pair of flower handcuffs and only kept one on, deciding she'd use them later that day and didn't want to ruin them right away.

The sight of all their friends acting like children, some more than others, earned a little laugh from Marian. She looked at him and pressed a kiss to his cheek before saying cheerfully "Tag, you're it!" and running off. "Come on, Fenris! You have to catch me, that's the game! And you're it!" she giggled, waiting for him to respond. It took a few seconds to properly take in what was going on but when he did he jumped to his feet and ran straight after her, a smile gracing looks. "Everybody come on, we're playing tag, run!" she laughed blissfully, catching Merrill's attention.

"Tag? What's a tag? Why do we have to run?" she asked aloud, unsure of which direction to take.

"Remember that game you told me about? Escape Fen'Harel was it called? That's what tag is, Fenris is Fen'Harel and we have to run." Sebastian explained calmly... while Fenris had caught up to Hawke and tapped her on the shoulder. "...Well, Hawke's Fen'Harel now. If she touches you, you're the one who has to chase us." he ran off before the elf could ask anything more and they all split up as their leader started wondering who to catch. She quickly caught up to Varric and tapped him on the shoulder with a laugh before spinning around and running away.

"Oh, sure, cheat using those long legs of yours. Shameless!" he grumbled, stealthily running after the first target in his sight. Hawke laughed, having more fun that she'd had in what felt like forever.

What felt like minutes was in fact over an hour. Varric tagged Merrill, Merrill tagged Isabela, Isabela tagged Anders, Anders tagged Sebastian, Sebastian tagged Fenris, Fenris tagged Isabela, Isabela tagged Hawke, Hawke tagged Merrill, Merrill tagged Varric... the game went on and on, and they'd only realized how long it was when they noticed the sun setting. And despite Anders' complaint they'd wasted precious time, or Sebastian's mumbling that he'd missed the last reciting of the Chant for the day, everyone had a great time. Fenris most of all, and in knowing that Marian took great pride and comfort.


End file.
